Aldermen look at Rockford’s priorities for road repairs

Saturday

Dec 7, 2013 at 9:34 PMDec 7, 2013 at 9:34 PM

By Greg StanleyRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — Should the city prioritize repairs to major traffic arteries or to neighborhood streets? The familiar debate picked up Saturday as the City Council updates its rolling five-year road construction plan.

Voters approved a special sales tax in 2007 that has raised about $16 million a year for road work. Staff presented aldermen a plan to set aside a little more than a third of that — $5.5 million — next year for neighborhood road repairs. An additional $5.8 million would go toward major reconstruction projects, including South Main Street and Harrison Avenue.

The neighborhood road money is divided equally among the city’s 14 wards. And aldermen have set aside $5.5 million for neighborhoods each year since 2009, when the smaller roads got about $6.5 million of work.

But $5.5 million split 14 ways doesn’t go as far as it did even three years ago.

“We’re getting less resurfacing done in our neighborhoods for the same amount of money,” Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, said. “It’s to the point where we’re not even doing full streets, but 20 feet here and 15 feet there.”

Ald. Tom McNamara, D-3, wants the neighborhood funding at least back to $6.5 million next year.

“Everyone complains about property values,” he said. “And one of the few things the government can do is invest in infrastructure. And we have studies that show, if you invest in neighborhood streets, you’re going to increase property values.”

But to spend more on neighborhood streets leaves less for main throughways.

And the money spent on one or the other isn’t always equal.

When the city fixes a neighborhood road, it fixes it alone. But when it fixes major traffic arteries, local tax money can be matched or leveraged for more money from the state and federal governments, capital programs manager Pat Zuroske said.

The city, for example, will spend $4 million on the West State Street reconstruction, while $20 million will come from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

It would be foolish to let that leverage go, said Ald. John Beck, R-12.

“I’d love nothing more than to repave all our neighborhoods, but I’m not ready to start putting off major projects just to get to a couple more blocks of neighborhood streets,” he said.